Cardamom County, Thekkady Kerala (aka Xandari Resorts)

As you might have read from my previous post , I recently had the opportunity to the visit the beautiful hill station of Thekkady. Located exactly on the Kerala-TN Border, this is a lesser known hill station and not on top of every traveller’s vacation list. After winning a couple of nights stay at Muthoot Cardamom County Thekkady Resort (earlier known as Xandari Resorts) through a Radio contest, I decided to venture out to this place. By far, this has been one of the best resorts I have stayed in recent times and ranks high in all my criteria for a good hotel/resort.

Cardamom County Thekkady Resort ( Xandari Resorts ) Quick Look

Location

Thekkady, Kumili Bus Stand

I initially assumed that being a big resort, it’ll be quite far off from the main town and I may have to spend quite a bit on travel every time I venture out. However , to my surprise this was right in the middle of town (quite literally). The small shopping centre, arts centre, boating pickup place, massage centres, restaurants and almost everything was barely a hundred metres away. I couldn’t have expected a better location than this. In case you are lost, just ask for the Jesus Christ statue in the center of town and from here its a 2 min walk to the resort.

Facilities

Being a 5 star resort, Cardamom County has almost every possible facility available. Some of them include:

A Large swimming pool,right in the centre of the resort

A multi-cuisine restaurant

Gymnasium

Ayurvedic Massage / Spa Centre

Butterfly garden

Wifi enabled Hilltop rooms

Conference Hall

Library and Business Center

Morning Yoga Sessions

Rooms

As the resort is built upon a small hill, you get to stay in one of these hillside rooms. The views from here is simply fantastic, esp early mornings with a small cloud mist that surrounds the area. However downside is it’s a steep climb to your room .

Given its on a hill, you don’t find elevators . So it’s easily a 50-60 step climb to your room (though definitely a good exercise for young people). However you can always ask for a ground floor room if you are with elders.

But trust me, it’s worth having the highest room in this resort. How often do you get to stay on the top of a hill facing a pool on one side and rocky mountains on the other. They have cottages, hilltop rooms and private suites.

Food

The complimentary breakfast has a nice variety of South Indian items (primarily Kerala cuisine) and also a decent portion of North Indian and Continental cuisine . They also serve for free, a cup of organic tea at 4PM in the gardens. This tastes way different from your usual tea and definitely something to try. Coming to room dining and in house restaurants, you need to bear in mind that this is almost like a 5-star restaurants. So the food gets to be pricey .

A meal for two can easily come to 1000-1500. However on the flipside, there are plenty of Indian restaurants at a walkable distance from the place. So you can always keep the inhouse dining a last resort, just in case all other options fail (which is rare).

Tariff

On an average the rooms cost anywhere between 6000-8000 depending on the season and the site from which you book. Sometimes during off-season , you may end up getting a very good deal. So do check with the resort to see if they are running any offers. You can check out the below sites for the best offers:

Tours from Cardamom County Thekkady Resort

The resort travel desk helps you to plan for many nearby visits and tours including : Gavi Tour(7Hours) , Spice Plantation Tour(1-2 Hours), Chatram Tour(Half Day), Boating in Tiger Reserve(3-4 Hours) among other things. Other nearby activities include Kalaripayattu, Kathakali shows which are walkable from resort.